princesswodfandomcom-20200214-history
Obsolete/Crossovers
General Crossover Broadly speaking, it should be noted that the Enlightened are a Major Template, with Inner Light as their supernatural advantage. As a result, all the normal rules for resistances and the fact that templates cannot stack apply. Vampires The Kindred, as a species, are as aware of the Enlightened as they are of any other of the inhabitants of the World of Darkness, which is to say, not very. On the other hand, certain Vampires, especially those among the Ordo Dracul, the Circle of the Crone, and, peculiarly, the Carthian Movement know a lot more than the Nobility might wish them to. Spontaneous Blossomings still occurred before the Release, after all, which leaves the long-lived Kindred in a position to have personally encountered Princesses at a time when they were an extreme rarity. Of course, knowing the tendencies of the Enlightened for punitive justice, as well as the fact that, pre-Release, only Storms and Tears had a presence in the real world, that might just mean that there are a few elder vampires who might be bearing a grudge from Herds destroyed and plans ruined. As a major template, the Enlightened may not be Ghouled or Embraced, and do not suffer the Viniculum, although they may become addicted to Vitae. The blood of the Nobles, though, has different effects, depending on whether it comes from them when Transformed, or unTransformed. When drunk from an unTransformed Princess, the Kindred, sadly, only becomes more concealed among the human herd; each point of Princess blood in the Vampire's system increases their effective Humanity rating for the purposes of appearance and their dicepool when interacting with mortals. There is something in the blood, though, that shrieks warning to the Enlightened; each point of Princess-derived Vitae decreases their effective Humanity for the purposes of appearance for those with an Inner Light stat by one. This produces the peculiar circumstance that, while the Vampire appears more human to mortals, they appear more corpse-like and monstrous to the Enlightened; something that can produce paranoia among those Princesses who find themselves the only one who can see the self-evident monster in their midst. A drink from a Transformed Princess, on the other hand, introduces a strange mutual weakness in both parties, as the tendency for the Nobility to make bonds and connections interacts with the unleashed power of the Transformation in unexpected ways. For as long as the Princess-derived Vitae remains in the Vampire's system, both parties suffer a -1 to all Resisted and Contested rolls against the other individual. Some scholars of the Dracul believe it is somehow related to the Viniculum, although that does not explain why it works against individuals with a level-3 bond to another, while there are those among the Nobility who suspect that the Transformed blood introduces some kind of sympathy, making them, in a small sense, the same person. Either way, the mechanism is unknown, but the effects have been anywhere from making it easier to persuade a predator to let a captive go, to creating strange, co-dependent relationships; each party pliable to the other. Werewolves Both the Enlightened and the Uratha can change and transform, it is true. However, what studies there have been have found no connections between the two. The 5 forms of the Uratha, in a sense, exist ''in potentia'' in their aura, and are all the same being; a gift of their insane, mutable ultimate mother. By contrast, the Princess and her Transformed self are metaphysically and literally different people; two selves, drawn from the Inner Light. The fact that the Enlightened have almost no talent for interactions with the spirit world, with the exception of one rare Embassy, is enough, in the minds of both parties, to refute that the two have a connection. Interactions between the two tend towards wary, almost hostility on the part of Princesses, and apathy (until they affect their territory in a negative way) on the part of the Uratha. The inhuman mindset that lets the children of Father Wolf kill with ease tends to produce conflict with the Nobility, who tend not to look fondly on the murder of a too-inquisitive journalist and the dumping of his mauled body in the Shadow; for their part, the Uratha are often forced into action, when the deeds of the Enlightened disrupt the careful ecology of the Shadow. Most of the time, any peace that forms is wary, split by mutual incomprehension, although it can warm with the mutual goal of keeping possessing entities out of the material, and the eradication of Tainted areas, which too often coincide with Wounds. Mechanically, for the purposes of tracking, the bonus the Uratha receive only applies to the form that the blood was taken from; blood from a Transformed Princess does not grant a +4 to track her unTransformed self. Likewise, the Enlightened do not suffer from Lunacy, although they are still free to feel terrified when facing an enraged wolfman. A werewolf in all of its shapes is still a sapient, conscious mind, and so counts as a human, rather than an animal, for the purposes of powers that distinguish between the two. The [[Embassy:Ephemera|Ephemeral Ministry]] specialises in interactions with the spirit world, and its various denizens, including the Uratha. Spirits As has been already mentioned, the Enlightened know very little about the ''hisil''. As a result, they will tend to interpret spiritual influence though their own personal beliefs, whether of demons, Darkness beings, or animism. Although they have several powers that can be used to get rid of such beings, whether they are possessing humans or anchored to a location, they are considerably worse at interacting with them, not least because of the fact that the First Tongue is the only way that many spirits communicate, and is apparently unrelated to the Royal Tongue. There exist spirits linked to concepts such as Hope, Happiness, and Light which will act in a more friendly manner to them, but they remain fundamentally spirits, interested in furthering their own domain, and there is no evidence that the reason they help the Princesses is anything more than that (and a Noble will typically be more wary after they have found the cult of junkies that the Happiness spirit keeps high, the Urged drug dealer giving away his product for almost free, just for the high). Of particular note are the Goalenu. These are a spirit-ghost hybrid (although of a different kind to the Geister), and perhaps the most common spiritual foe that the Nobility will face (or be aided by, if they are followers of the Queen of Storms). As an unnatural merger of ghost and spirit, and frequently magath who will devour any passing spirit for power on top of that, they are ''persona non gratis'' in much of the Shadow, though the fact that they can (and do) eat any Lesser Gaffling one-on-one leaves them safe most of the time. Nevertheless, they spend as much time in the Material, anchored in Twilight or in a Vessel, as they can, both to further their mission, but also because, as discorporation shreds them back to a Tattered Ghost, they are innately more vulnerable than a normal spirit. As a Major Template, Princesses may not be Claimed, although they may still be Urged (see Predators for more details). Mages The Awakened and the Enlightened are so very, very close in some ways (consider the etymology of the word "Magical"), and yet, in others, they are complete strangers. Like Mages, Princesses are human in a way that Vampires and Werewolves are not. Like Mages, they claim decent from a prehistoric city that fell, and, (as they both claim), left the world lesser for its passing. Like Mages, they claim that when they achieve their aims, everything will be better. It's the details which cause the problems. The difference is almost fundamentally one of temperament. Where the Awakened ''know'', the Enlightened ''believe''. One intellectualises, one emotes. Where one has hubris, the other has self-righteousness. One is subtle and treacherous, the other is overt and blatant. That is not to say that they cannot get on; quite the opposite. Broadly, they have probably the least barriers to interaction (neither part is a blood-sucking monster that feeds off the living, for one), and often compatible goals. The sheer similarity between the Hieraconis and the dreams of a rebuilt Kingdom are remarkable to those not involved in either goal, and the mantra of the Free Council, “Destroy the Followers of the Lie” leads to actions against the Alhambrans that the Radiant cannot but approve of. And there are even those periodic incidents where the friend of a Mage undergoes a Blossoming, or visa versa, and there is a great deal of confusion on all sides. But there is always a slight edge to interactions, especially when the Alhambrans, Seers, Banishers or followers of Storms, are raising tension for all parties. There is a theory which has growing support among the both academics of the Mysterium and the autocrats of the Seers of the Throne, and that is that the Kingdom was another, pre-Fall rival civilisation to the Awakened City. While Atlantis looked up to the heavens, and reached out to seize the universe, the Kingdom turned onwards, and exalted in its purity, for it, unlike the Awakened City, was faithful to one of the Old Gods. And so, when the cosmos broke, and the newly enthroned Exarchs cast out the Old Gods, harrowing and slaying them, the Kingdom crumbled, too. The souls of its servants were chained to the Omphalous, that barrier which had been established to keep the Old Gods out of the mortal world, just as Prometheus was chained. Of course, those Princesses who know of this hypothesis point out the numerous ways this disagrees with their own accounts, and accuse the Mages of typical hubris, the Mages retort that they're only upset because they lost, and generally, everything goes downhill from the point when the first magical blasts are thrown. As a Major Template, the Nobility count as Sleepwalkers, as do the Sworn, although Beacons are still Asleep, and so still cause Paradox. The most striking feature, from a Mage's point of view, is that the Transformed and Untransformed versions of a Princess appear to be completely different people, from the point of view of Resonance and Sympathy. They do not carry the Resonance across; a Transformed Princess may burn down a Dark-Tainted house, but the Fiery resonance from the deed is not carried across. On the other hand, they will tend to accumulate similar Resonances, from the same personality, and the fact that, unless they are careful, they will spend time around the same places in both forms; this can be a clue to the connection. Sympathetically, the spell automatically fails if the Princess is not in the form that the Mage has Sympathy to; a successful Wits + Occult roll can allow the Mage to realise it is because, for the point of view of the magic, the person they are trying to target ''does not exist''. {C}Some Enlightened powers function via Sympathy. These powers create a sympathetic connection, in the same way that Awakened powers do, and so can be used to channel spells back in the same manner. Likewise, Occultation functions as a defence against Enlightened powers, and so do Space-based Wards. As per Tome of the Mysteries, Awakened magic may not prevent a Princess from being physically able to Transform, though it may mentally prevent her (so, for example, it may not directly counter the Transformation, though it may mind-control her to not want to Transform). Charms Invoked with an elementally-linked Invocation count as being of that element from the point of view of Awakened magic; if a fire-proof shield is created using the Forces Practice of Shielding, it defends against a Fuego fireball, just as a specialist Death spell can provide extra protection above and beyond normal Mage Armour against the shadowy void of Lacrima. There appears to be some connection between the Darkness and the Abyss, at least insofar as they are shadowy darknesses hidden within the human heart and soul. Creatures of the Darkness which used to be Sleepers (such as the Endarkened, or the Darkspawn they become), still count as Sleepers from the point of view of Awakened magic. Notably, this counts for both positive and negative ways; they induce Paradox (though only for Vulgar spells; they cannot upgrade a Covert spell to Vulgar even if it becomes unbelievable) as a Sleeper, but they are also susceptible to things which affect Sleepers worse than normal. Notably, Death 3 can remove their souls, and if it is done to a Darkspawn or Mnemosyne, the physical body dies instantly. This remains a Wisdom sin, and if the soul is transplanted to a soulless individual, they become an Endarkened as soon as their Morality returns to its previous level. Nevertheless, Tremere have been known to use them as a source of souls which will not be missed (not least because it is easier to justify it to themselves; +1 to the Wisdom check). The [[Embassy:Arcane|Ministry of the Arcane]] handles interactions with the Awakened, and other, lesser, human magic users. Prometheans While the Enlightened may superficially resemble Mages, it is the strange hints of a connection between the Inner Light, and the Divine Fire, which intrigue those Noble researchers who have heard of it more. They are, after all, both inner, concealed lights of brilliance, growth and change tied to humanity (as opposed to any of the other things in the World of Darkness). Then there is the disguise that conceals the disfigurements of the patchwork corpses, which seems to many to be much like a weaker version of the Tranformation; in fact, there are some Enlightened who argue that is what the Transformation would look like without a proper soul to anchor it, something thin, wispy, and flickery, prone to failure. Of course, there are also others who would rather like the ability of the Prometheans to use their own version of Charms without changing, that brief flicker as they Transform before changing back again, and they tend to ignore the warnings of Prometheans that theirs is not a nice state to be in. And then start stalking the poor Galetid, until he tells them how to do it. But these thoughts can lead a Princess down an unpleasant path. The Divine Fire is split between Elipsos and Flux. It both uplifts, and corrupts. Does the Inner Light have its own opposite counterpart, then. Some kind of ... Outer... Darkness? Those among the Enlightened who have had this chain of thought tend to throw themselves into their work if they can avoid the depression that the idea that the Darkness is the other side to the Light brings. They must believe that the universe does not have this kind of cruel Manichean dualism. Mechanically, a Noble suffers from Disquiet as any other human being does. Their drives and passions are corrupted by the lurking alchemical fire; righteousness into pettiness, admiration into base lust, momentary distraction into dullness, inquisitiveness into the desire to enslave, and interest into random obsession. Worse, the state of mind imposed upon the Disquieted is often non-conducive to Invocations opposed to it; one inflamed by the passions of the Muses will find it hard to stay calm and analytical for Aqua, even as one made bitter by the Wretched will find that Tempesta comes easier to them. An appropriate bonus or penalty, up to the level of their Disquiet, may be imposed by the Storyteller if the Invocation they are trying to call upon opposes or supports their disquiet. {C}Tainted areas and Wastelands interact in an interesting way. Quite apart from the fact that a Cold Taint and an Osiran Wasteland, for example, are remarkably easy to mistake, they actually serve to cancel each other out. The level of the Wasteland subtracts from the points in each component (Cold, Dark, Silent, Size) in a 1:1 ratio, only taking effect at that reduced level once the Taint is supressed. The Divine Fire scorches the Darkness, just as it burns at the world, and drives it into remission (though it only suppresses it, to return as the Wasteland fades). Likewise, Dormant Pandorans in a Taint activate, and will not go Dormant even when they have no Pyros for as long as they remain in the Taint (if they leave, they go Dormant immediately). They also gain the Darkened Template for as long as they remain in the area, although, oddly, it does not affect them in any other way (they do not gain Umbrae or Calignes, for example). There is no Ministry which specialises in the patchwork corpses that wonder the Earth, soulless. Changelings One of the first things a newly Blossomed individual does is wonder how many of the other stories that exist in the World of Darkness are true. Perhaps fairies hide among the population, secretly granting wishes and watching over people, kind and loving just like how the stories say. It usually comes as quite a bit of a surprise to find that the Hidden Ones are a bunch of paranoid, suspicious, and often-mentally-unstable survivors of abuse by solipsistic abominations from Beyond the Fields we Know. Generally, the fae are much more Eyeless Man than Elrond. And, although the Queen of Spades may pride herself on her coalition of thieves and tricksters, sometimes it seems like every single Changeling is a exploitative rules-lawyer who, while willing to stick to the letter of an agreement, will completely ignore the spirit in which it was made. Worse; they can force people to live up to their side of a bargain, or suffer a terrible fate. This, of course, only applies to those among the Enlightened who have encountered Changelings; they are very hard to find, especially if you are directly looking for them. Most Princesses who do meet them do so by accident; perhaps their interests clash, as they both look into a string of disappearances in an area they protect. From what they, and the Embassy of Fate (although they have their own interests) have been able to find out, the fae-folk are considerably more organised that the Enlightened, living in 'freeholds' which appear to be some hybrid of a neofeudal court, where leadership changes according to season, and a support network. Worse, there are rumours that they have been compromised, depending on who you ask, by either the Darkness, or by the Queen of Tears; there are mentions of a Court of Fear, and Kings or Queens of Sorrows. While the Enlightened are devoted to the war between the Light and the Dark, between Hope and Fear, the Changelings seem not to care, and to just view any emotion as a kind of source of energy. As a result, Princesses tend to either want to help the 'poor abuse survivors', or hunting down the tricksters who bind innocent people into pacts they did not agree to, while Changelings tend to remain hidden from, and suspicious of the Enlightened, much as they do for any other denizen of the World of Darkness. Because there are worse things out there than Changelings. There are their former masters, and those among the Nobility who know of the True Fae and have encountered them hold them as terrible figures. They seize men, women and children alike, leaving near-perfect duplicates (yet often subtly wrong) in their places, and not once has a Princess managed to save a victim once the monsters have dragged them into their hellish labyrinth of thorns that they seem to dwell in (and a notable number of Nobles have vanished, as they pursued, never to be seen again). They are the Wild Hunt, the terrors that the monster under the bed is only a vague reminiscence of, and it is the duty of any Princess who knows about them to stand against them. If only there was a way of knowing when they attack; they rarely follow rhyme or rhythm, and most of the time the only way to know that someone was abducted is when the killer falls apart into rose petals, barbed wire, and cloth. And then, they sometimes show an ''interest'' in the Enlightened. Sometimes, they will play the villain, pit themselves against something that they know that a Princess protects, ruin something or someone she cares about, before retreating with a flick of a cape and a laugh. Some think they feed off the emotions produced, others that they somehow need the conflict, and others simply that the True Fae are sadistic bastards. It might even be a perverse mockery of magical girl shows; the fae are creatures of stories, after all. Whatever the truth is, the attention of the Fae is a terrible thing. But their narrative nature can sometimes be their weakness; a Princess who is willing to take the story, and play it through to the end, or else ruthlessly subvert it, can beat them at their own game. She can force the wicked witch into the oven, stand up to the bully, which shows her respect and leaves her alone, or make the monster put on the red-hot shoes and dance the night away. There are even tales of Princesses of Spades who have tricked the Fair Folk into oaths which prevent them ever returning to the world. They might be called the Old Gods by some, but they can still be blinded by the Light. Mechanically, powers which permit Aura Sight enable a reflexive roll of (Wits + Empathy - 3), automatically and reflexively contested by the Changeling's Resolve + Composure. Success permits the Princess to see through the Mask for the duration of the power. Moreover, if the Princess gets an Exceptional Success on any roll when Transformed, she sees through the Mask of any Changeling nearby for a fraction of a second; this is just a flicker, not enough to tell anything even as much as Kith, but it can be suspicious. When harvesting Glamour from a Princess, Changelings double their harvesting pool if the relevant emotion is hope, but success removes a single Wisp from the Princess. True Fae are at -2 to notice an Untransformed Princess but receive a corresponding +2 to notice a Transformed self; there is something odd about how the magic of the Transformation interacts with how they are tied into Fate. The [[Embassy:Story|Embassy of Stories]] deals with the Wyrd (and thus Changelings). Hunters In the shadows of a Darkness-filled world, men and women hold a Vigil, each holding a single lonely candle. And since recorded history began, uncounted teeming masses have done this. They have done it for any number of reasons, for a hundred hundred causes which have now mostly passed away forgotten. They did it before the Release, and they do it today. The valiant bravery of humanity in such adversity, without even the leadership of the Enlightened to guide them is a testament to the Light. And now that the Nobility have returned, the champions of the Light, it will be easy to stoke the candleflame of the Vigil into a roaring bonfire that will push the Darkness before them, driving them out! Uh, no. The reaction of Hunters to the Enlightened is almost as varied as the ragtag mortals carry out the Vigil are. Much like Mages, Nobles appear to be human, and do not have any disturbing dietary requirements (such as blood, flesh, or souls) which makes a normal person understandably wary of them at first contact. But that doesn't mean that your average Hunter will welcome them with open arms as long-lost kin. Even ones who accept the tales of the Kingdom tend to not appreciate people trying to interfere, and the ones who do accept such stories are few indeed. "I remember things from my past life in a dream" tends to not be the most convincing argument when dealing with the Men In Black, or grizzled ex-cons with shotguns. When it comes down to it, the reactions depend entirely on the Hunters, and their personal experience with the Light and the Darkness. Anyone who has encountered an Alhambran Light-draining operation, and watched as people get sick and monsters come flocking, for example, won't be best inclined to anyone who resembles the bastard who was organising them. By contrast, Hunter cells, especially at Tier 1, who are saved from a horde of Dark-Spawn by person in an admittedly-silly costume will be better inclined to them, even if they were throwing fire blasts when they did it. The presence of Compacts and Conspiracies only further complicates matters, especially with the tendency for the Enlightened to be grouped in with the Awakened as 'witches', and them to be treated as if they're the same class of being. To the outside observer, after all, the difference is not so great; they're apparently humans, who have unnatural powers, and can hide in a way that vampires, say cannot. For a new Princess to be told by a man who smells of sulphur with hellfire in her eyes that she's sold her soul to the Devil is rather distressing, when she's already coping massive changes to her self image and her life. Some of these Compacts and Conspiracies are less militant, of course, and groups such as the Union can be a solid ally for one of the Enlightened with the same goals as them. But, in almost all cases, there will be initial wariness and caution which can only be eroded by earned trust. One factor that, sadly, the Radiant have learned to take into account is that the Queen of Storms and her followers have a known tendency to work as enablers and aids for Hunter cells. The rage and desire for vengeance at all costs resonates too well with many Hunters, and the fact that the Stormites have had a very long time to get good at knowing how to help people take revenge, no matter the cost, means that Radiant (and Alhambran) Princesses often have to watch out for an "friend" who's providing the local Hunter cells with money and guns - and their names as witches. What makes the so-called Storm-tainted cells so dangerous is that they are genuinely being enabled, even as the vitriol of the Seraphic General gives them the means to more extreme ends. The Radiant may outnumber the Furies, but they don't outnumber all the assets that a well-connected follower of Storms - who may be mortal themselves - can call upon, and worse... what if they're right? Hunter groups are a blunt weapon, mostly ignorant of the Darkness and prone to solving their problems with violence, but if they're being advised and aided by a Storm cult, they're undeniably effective at cleansing an area of Dark-Spawn. That is the same effectiveness that the Radiant themselves want. And it's often all too easy to forget that the Hunters have their own opinions, and no desire to be used as pawns by "witches", even if the "witches" mean the best. Slashers Slashers frighten the Hopeful. They aren't monsters changed or transformed in any visible way, but they are still as dangerous as any inhuman beast thirsting for flesh. What's worse, many time a slasher has no connection to the Darkness or any other supernatural force, they just ''are''. A princess who thinks she can help a slasher see the light is a princess with a one way ticket to the afterlife. Slashers, for their part, don't care anymore about the abilities of a Princess than they do about a vampire or werewolf or mortal. To them, the glowing hope a princess represents means little more than a much more shiny person to kill. Certain slashers, however, particularly a charmer or psyco, would want to know more about them, trying to make the abilities of a princess their own to better, if only to make their own killing abilities even greater, leaving the body of the princess wherever they choose. No Embassy wants any contact with Slashers, period. Sin-Eaters